Friends of Ours

Italian Court Convicts Mafia Bosses And Government Officials Over Secret Deal

An Italian court has convicted eight defendants for their roles in a secret deal between the Sicilian Mafia and government officials to end the mob's stragismo -- strategy of terror -- against the state in the early 1990s which included the 1992 murders of anti-Mafia judges Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone in separate bomb attacks as reported by The Guardian.

Italian Police Target Pizzini Network For Fugitive Mafia Boss Matteo Messina Denaro

Italian police have arrested 22 suspected members of Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia for their alleged roles in facilitating communications through paper notes or "pizzini" for fugitive boss of bosses Matteo Messina Denaro as reported by The Washington Post. Messina Denaro has been on the lam since 1993, and wanted for, among other things, his role in the 1996 murder Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 13-year-old son of mobster-turned-informant Santino Di Matteo. The boy had been held by his abductors for two years, and then strangled and dissolved in acid.

Same Hitman Behind Two Mafia-linked Killings In Greater Toronto

Law enforcement from Toronto, ON Canada has announced that "two Mafia-linked shootings last year . . . were carried out by the same hit man" as reported by The Globe and Mail: "after studying hundreds of hours of seized surveillance footage, investigators believe the gunman was the same man in both cases and was, at some point, seen driving the same black Honda Civic."

Last March Mila Barbieri was gunned down while sitting in a car but police believe she was not the intended target, and note "her boyfriend, Saverio Serrano -- the son of a notorious Canadian Mafia figure and cocaine importer -- was also in the car with her that day" who "survived the shooting."

Last May Angelo Musitano "was also gunned down in the driveway of his suburban home," and "in the 1990s, Mr. Musitano and his brother Pat were charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of Hamilton Mob boss Johnny (Pops) Papalia and his associate Carmen Barillaro."

The Musitano and Serrano clans allegedly have historic ties to the 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia which in recent years has been engaged in a pissing match with the Rizutto clan from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia for control over the drug trade in Canada and New York.

Cosa Nostra Allegedly Rigged Horse Races At Palermo Track

Horse racing "has been suspended at the Palermo racetrack after Italian police investigating mafia activity discovered illegal gambling and evidence that Cosa Nostra bosses were rigging races" as reported by The Guardian: "the order, from the head of the Palermo prefecture, Antonella De Miro, followed the arrests earlier in December of 25 people linked to the clans of Resuttana-San Lorenzo that revealed the extent of mafia involvement in horse racing."